USS Midway: Pearl Harbor, December 7th, 1941 - Living Well for Adults Seminar Series

Program Type:

Community Engagement

Age Group:

Emerging Adults, Adults, Older Adults
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Event Details

Learn about the history leading up to the Pearl Harbor bombing and how the USS Midway was involved.

In the early 1900s a string of islands and Spanish territories became part of the United States and pointed at the heart of Japan, too close for comfort. Following WWI Japan was awarded the administration of the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. Japan negotiated a promise from the US to not militarize islands under US control, and Japan signed a treaty to limit warship construction. The gradual erosion of civilian government authority in Japan coincided with the rise of military authority. Japan became increasingly aggressive to neighboring nations of Manchuria, Korea and China.

By 1940 Japan had two-million-man army and navy; the US in comparison had 450,000 soldiers and 215,273 naval personnel. US armed forces ranked 16th largest in the world behind Romania. In spite of the difference in manpower Japan hesitated to push the US into war until a young, US educated admiral named Yamamoto conceived a plan to crush the US and set the entire Pacific basin aflame by destroying the US fleet at Pearl Harbor. The Japanese Imperial Council finally approved Yamamoto’s plan July 1941.

Final preparations were completed, and the fleet of 6 Japanese carriers and surrounding ships sailed under radio silence November 26, 1941, and headed north of Hawaii to await the final order to attack and destroy the US fleet in Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. But the carriers were not at Pearl Harbor, a crucial error by Japan.

Presented by the USS Midway Speakers Bureau.

This event is part of our Living Well for Adults Series which features programs for wellness, learning, connections & more...

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Information and program content can be made available in alternate formats upon request. To request disability-related modifications or accommodations, please email JFRogers@sandiego.gov

Accessibility

Need disability-related modifications or accommodations? Information and program content can be made available in alternative formats upon request by emailing JFRogers@sandiego.gov.